Football thoughts Spring USC: where Sam Hard to QB adapts, who is n. 3 WR?

Los Angeles – Usc has eliminated three more practices for two weeks of spring. Here’s what we learned about the Trojans while they continue to work for the 2025 season.

1. Through six practices, Lincoln Riley can say why the Sam Hard Quarterback has been highly recruited.

“He is very professional in his approach. He learned a lot of ball in his career,” said Riley. “He faces that knowledge, he can develop it quickly. He can go out and operate there. For me, it is almost as if I were in the NFL and went to sign a 10 -year -old veteran quarterback. … He has a talented arm, he can really launch the ball, he could really elaborate.”

Huard is one of the most compelling individual stories of the Us this spring. In the recruitment cycle of 2021, Hardd was a five -star perspective. When he signed with Washington, he seemed to be the face of the future of the Huskies.

He never worked in this way. Washington coach Jimmy Lake was dismissed less than a year after Haund signed with the program. Kalen Deboer has been hired and brought Michael Penix Jr. to start. Huard, who was the third rope QB in 2022, moved from the program and landed at the FCS Cal Poly with his former high school coach, Sheldon Cross, who was the offensive coordinator of the Mustangs. After a year at the FCS level, Hard was moved to Utah but did not play in 2024. Now, he is at the Usca, playing for Riley and his uncle, the quarterback coach Luke Hard.

“If I asked me to get out of the high school, if this would be my university career, it would have been crazy to hear,” said Sam Hard. “But going back, I wouldn’t change anything. If I had to spend all this to have this opportunity with a couple of years, I would go to do it again.”

Sam Huard has spent two seasons in Washington, one in Cal Poly and one in Utah before moving to the USC. (Darren Yamashita / USA Today Sports through Imags images)

Hugard said he was grateful for all the places where he was, the coaches from whom he learned and enhances the relationships he has built with teammates over the years. It was with some vouchers: Deboer, Kyle Whittingham and now Riley.

The journey was not what he expected, but he is grateful for where he is. The past out of season was his third time in the transfer portal. Hugard said it was the first time he entered the transfers market, not knowing what to expect.

But the opportunity to play in a system and with the people with whom he is at ease – in particular his uncle – has passed everything else.

“I think that in today’s era of every situation, especially in the crazy era of university football in which we find ourselves, it is important to be with the people who know you, who know what you can do,” said Houard, who remains two years of eligibility. “Not many people know him better than me.”

2. It will be interesting to see where Hard lands on the depth diagram. The hypothesis will be third behind Jayden Maiava, the start -up projected, and the five -star serial number Husman Longstreet.

Hugard started an entire season at Cal Poly and a game in Washington in 2021, so he has more experience than Longstreet. But the serial number has the advantage over Huard, and will probably win, but we will have to wait to learn if it does.

3. The wide receiver is an interesting position. Makai Lemon and Ja’kobi Lane are a great duo at the top, but the Trojans do not have an obvious option to take on the role n. 3.

Stranging for the place, among others, will be Jay Fair or Prince Strachan, a transfer from the State of Boise. Redshirt’s serial number Xavier Jordan is a bit of a joker. Jordan was one of the best 100 prospects in the 2024 recruitment cycle and the second highest player in the Usco’s recruitment class that year-year the defensive guard Kameryn Fountain.

Last year we did not hear about Jordan much and we didn’t hear much about him in this offseason, even if the competition for that complementary role seems rather open.

Riley shed light on where Jordan finds himself: “Yes, he fought some wounds last year. He had some growth. He made some comedies at the beginning of this spring.

4. On the accident front, Lemon has to do with a problem of the knee tendon that prevented him from practicing fully, but Riley hopes to be able to return during the second half of spring.

The Kilian O’Connor center, which was put in the scholarship at the beginning of this low season, was injured during the tests Tuesday, but Riley said that O’Connor should be ready to go in the summer, and there is an external possibility that could be ready by the end of spring.

Despite being a Walk-on, O’Connor has been the backup center in the last two seasons and has started in the Las Vegas Bowl Victory against Texas A&M.

5. J’onre Reed, a transfer from Syracuse, is the alleged appetizer in the center after joining the program in this offseason after starting 25 games in the last two years. This happened after a stop at the Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College.

Here’s how Reed, a native of Houston, outlined his decision to move to the USC: “I didn’t want to go back to the south. I grew up to the south. So I knew the South. I took my associate in the Midwest. I took my degree on the eastern coast. So I was like, ‘The west coast seems to be a place to get a master, right?’ The next thing you know, I end up seeing USC in my DM on Twitter.

6. Reed is one of the numerous USC additions made along the scrimmage line in this offseason. It looks like a safe bet to start the center while DJ Wingfield, a transfer from Purdue, could start the left guard.

And then there are defensive line transfers Keeshawn Silver (Kentucky) and Jamaal Jarrett (Georgia), which both weigh more than 330 kilos.

These are bigger bodies than those who used to have on the lines last year. While it does not guarantee that the trojans have improved along the lines, it is a difference.

“You certainly hear it (the dimensions),” said Riley. “The gaps and holes in which really large team games, really strong teams, everything is smaller and the space literally is just busy, and you feel that at this moment with our kids. It is a real battle on the scrimmage line. And the same thing with our defensive line in front of our line.

7. There is no pressure on them to play this year because Utc has other tackle options, but the serial number of serially offensive Aaron Dunn and Alex Payne deserve the penalty to trace throughout the year. Dunn was the overall perspective n. 165 in the 2025 recruitment cycle and was engaged in Utah before the Trojans launched him in October.

A month later, USC launched Payne, which was the overall perspective n. 181, from the North Carolina. For a program that fought to land the blue-chip talents on the offensive line, sign Dunn and Payne was crucial.

The Trojans are set to the left with Elijah Paige. The right attack could be Tobias Raymond, Justin Tauanuu or potentially a transfer. But Dunn and Payne represent the future in the offensive attack.

Their development is fundamental in the long term. Riley shared some first impressions of the two freshmen.

“Dunn is very, very athletic, a bit like we thought,” said Riley. “We thought it was one of the most athletic boys we signed, and you could see it immediately. We tried to work it a little in both positions. Payne did a good job coming and learning our things. He is a strong child, they came from a really good program. Yes, they were happy with what we have seen. Good start.”

(Top photo of Lincoln Riley: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)